Author
Michael Lyle (MJ to some) is an award-winning journalist with Nevada Current. In addition to covering state and local policy and politics, Michael reports extensively on homelessness and housing policy. He graduated from UNLV with B.A. in Journalism and Media Studies and later earned an M.S. in Communications at Syracuse University.
Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Is the Green rush leaving women and minorities behind?
By: Michael Lyle - June 29, 2018
How do you create equity in the cannabis industry so people of color, low-income communities and those disenfranchised by marijuana laws can benefit from a multimillion-dollar business? A year into recreational sales bringing new employment and business opportunities to the state, Nevada is still trying to answer that question. “In my opinion, (the state) […]
Hundreds brave Vegas heat to blast Trump, Heller
By: Michael Lyle - June 23, 2018
Across the country, people have been speaking out against the Trump Administration’s policies that have resulted in immigrant families being separated at the border. With Donald Trump’s visit to Las Vegas Saturday, local protesters came out to voice their anger in person. “No Trump, no KKK, no Racist USA,” some chanted. “The people united will […]
Metro to decide on $500,000 settlement from 2010 Taser death
By: Michael Lyle - June 22, 2018
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Fiscal Affairs Committee is expected to decide Monday whether to approve a settlement in the 2010 death of Anthony Jones. The committee’s recommendation is to approve the $500,000 settlement as a “compromise of a disputed claim.” Jones was pulled over during a traffic stop in December 2010, during which […]
Nevada ill-equipped to house youth offenders
By: Michael Lyle - June 22, 2018
If a teenage girl in Nevada was convicted as an adult, the options for housing her in a correctional facility would be segregation or sending her out of state. “There is nowhere in the department of corrections for them to live,” says Holly Welborn, the policy director of the ACLU of Nevada. “This is an […]
Gender-diverse community challenges state intersex policy
By: Michael Lyle - June 21, 2018
Georgiann Davis was 13 years old when a doctor discovered instead of having ovaries and a uterus that she had internal testes. Yet, Davis didn’t find out until she was in her mid-20s. “I was lied to, and my family was lied to,” she says. “I didn’t find out until later when I requested my […]
Sisolak to Laxalt: Tell Trump to stop it
By: Dana Gentry, Jeniffer Solis and Michael Lyle - June 19, 2018
Several Republicans on the Nevada ballot this fall began to break their silence Monday about the prison-like camps holding immigrant children separated from their parents at the southern border. However, they did not call for the Trump administration to immediately end its family separation policy. Instead, echoing the president, Nevada Republican candidates suggested that the […]
School board reviews gender-diverse policy
By: Michael Lyle - June 15, 2018
After about four hours of public comment and intense debate, the Clark County School District Board of Trustees voted 4-3 to move forward on a proposed policy for gender-diverse students. The trustees are expected to discuss changes to the drafted policy again at an August meeting. “I’m pleased to finally review a draft,” says Laura […]
Second chances: Prison program connects inmates to education
By: Michael Lyle - June 14, 2018
When Natasha Barker entered Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center last year, she dreaded the day of her release because of the unknowns it came with. Concerns about life after incarceration often plague many inmates. “There are all these questions about whether or not we can find a job, if we will re-offend or if we […]
Sisolak pivots to Laxalt
By: Michael Lyle and Hugh Jackson - June 13, 2018
Steve Sisolak campaigned saying he was the only Democrat who could beat Republican Adam Laxalt in the race for governor. Now he’ll get his chance. Sisolak defeated fellow Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. With still some votes to be counted, Sisolak had an impressive 12-point lead over “Chris G.” The […]
STDs on the rise nationally and in Nevada
By: Michael Lyle - June 11, 2018
Testing for sexually transmitted diseases at the Southern Nevada Health District has jumped 34 percent in the last two years, and reported STD cases have been rising by double-digit percentages. Explanations for the rise of STDs vary, from a decline in condom use to the rise of dating apps to people’s inability to visit or […]
Having to be twice as good – African American women in the campaign industry
By: Michael Lyle - June 7, 2018
Too often, Najaah Daniels walks into a room and people assume she is everything but what she actually is – a campaign manager running a congressional race. “People think I’m (state Sen. Pat) Spearman’s assistant, or they think I’m her niece,” she said. “When I say I’m a campaign manager, they give me this look […]
DA primary reflects Democrats in transition
By: Michael Lyle and Jeniffer Solis - June 5, 2018
In the 1980s, a group of centrists, including a young governor from Arkansas named Bill Clinton, formed the Democratic Leadership Council. Its goal was to shift the party to the right, and away from a declining political left that had suffered Richard Nixon’s landslide victory over George McGovern in 1972, and then found itself no […]